On Wednesday 11th September 2013, Travelodge officially marked its role in the King Richard III story, when the Mayor of Leicester Peter Soulsby unveiled a plaque at Leicester Central Travelodge to mark the site of the Blue Boar Inn – where King Richard lll spent his last night before being killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.This plaque is one of ten that have been produced by Leicester City Council to mark a new medieval walking tour that retraces King Richard lll last steps before he became the last English King to be killed in battle – which subsequently became a decisive moment in the War of the Roses.
The walking tour starts at Leicester Central Travelodge on Highcross Street, the former location of the Blue Boar Inn, which then stood on a medieval high street. Built in the mid-15th century, the Blue Boar was one of Leicester’s principal coaching inns, a place where aristocrats and wealthy merchants would stay when moving around the country. Today, the site is occupied by a 94-room Travelodge hotel which opened more than 500 years after the battle, in 2004.
The walking tour then takes in some of the other key sites associated with the King Richard III story such as: Bow Bridge, where the King crossed to do battle, and Grey Friars, where King Richard III’s body was famously found buried under a council car-park.
In addition to Leicester Central Travelodge being the starting point of the new walking tour, the hotel also hosted a book signing event. The book entitled ‘Richard III: The Leicester Connection’ has been penned by David Baldwin, a former academic tutor at the University of Leicester.
Mr Baldwin had predicted the possibility of finding Richard III on the site of the Grey Friars. He rejected the popular belief that Richard III’s remains were dug up and thrown into a local river when the local friary was dissolved. In his 1986 work, he pointed to the possible location of the burial site of King Richard III and wrote: ‘It is possible, (though perhaps now unlikely) that at some time in the 21st century, an excavator may yet reveal the slight remains of this famous monarch.’
Speaking ahead of the launch, David Baldwin today said: “I was thrilled when my prediction proved to be accurate, because only rarely is a historical mystery genuinely solved. My interest in King Richard goes back more than half a century, and I’m so pleased that my contribution to the discovery has helped to put Leicester on the map.”
Salman Mohammed, Leicester Central Travelodge Hotel Manager said: “We are very proud that our hotel has a place in Britain’s history. Since the remains of King Richard lll were discovered earlier this year, we have been inundated with enquiries from the public wanting to know what room King Richard lll stayed in and requesting information on the Blue Boar Inn. We have had many tourists turning up to take a picture of our hotel too.
“It is such an honour to be the starting point of this new walking tour and to have a plaque on the outside wall of our hotel which details such a vital time in the story of King Richard lll.”
